I was thinking of using the 24 volt unit 2500 watt to run my split unit a/c rather then the set up I have now.The 12 volt 2000 watt prosine unit I have now works fine for startup and with my battery bank but after 3 hrs the batteries can get warm.My question is will the org. start batteries and the bus alt. keep up with the draw of the a/c 10 amp at 120 volt ac or 50-55 amp draw at 24 v dc thanks dave

I was thinking of using the 24 volt unit 2500 watt to run my split unit a/c rather then the set up I have now.The 12 volt 2000 watt prosine unit I have now works fine for startup and with my battery bank but after 3 hrs the batteries can get warm.My question is will the org. start batteries and the bus alt. keep up with the draw of the a/c 10 amp at 120 volt ac or 50-55 amp draw at 24 v dc thanks dave

I think that to get those answers it's time to start thinking in Watts, Dave.

If you have an alternator like the Delco 50DN, it will deliver around 270 amps at 28 volts, for a power output of 7500 watts. That's at full wack, but pulling 3500 to 4000 watts is no problem. Your start batteries are probably 8D's with around 250 AH at 24 volts nominal, if in perfect condition you can pull half that out and they will still start the bus, so figure 125 AH. You need to always figure in the efficiency of the inverter, so add 10% to the output draw to figure input current at 24 volts, so you get your 55 amps at 24 volts. Your start batteries could support that for a tad over 2 hours before you risk not being able to start the bus. They won't be adding anything when the bus is running, so they are out of the equation at that point.

I ran an inverter off my bus charging system to run my 15K rooftop AC quite happily, it was a very good setup for OTR cooling. Sadly my inverter fried itself with a power surge on a switch-over, but that doesn't mean the concept isn't good. Sean did this as well, albeit on a far larger scale. When I replace my inverter I am going to probably size up to around 3500 - 4000 watts, since my AC unit draws closer to 15 amps running at full speed.

Unfortunately, Sterling only makes their pure sine inverter in 3500 watts at 12 volts. There is no 24 volt version. Most companies tend to make the larger inverters in 24 or 48 volt only and skip 12 volt because the wire sizes get too big.

Clifford- The interesting thing is that the inverter that I said could not start my AC (which I didn't really plan for it to be doing) and my compressor (which I did want it to do) is also Trace. Since it worked for you, it started me thinking that the issue is probably more my anemic batteries than the inverter. When I change them out soon, I will give the compressor another try.

My old Trace 2512 would run my Sharp microwave/Convection Oven without any problem (tho I never used it for more than 4-5 minutes at a time).My new Xantrex 3000 marine....not so good. Just an FYI or .o2